An Ounce of Prevention

"Let's get out of here in case they come back."

Carmen stared at him. "How? We only have one horse - and where do we go?"

Alex smiled down at her. "Each of us has two legs."

She frowned. "But where will we go? We don't know who we can trust and it's a long way back to Tucson."

"I know," Jonathan said. "So does Dad. We were looking at a map this morning. There's a little town over those mountains." He pointed to the northwest. "I was going to start walking towards it with the kids in the morning."

Alex put an arm around Jonathan's shoulders. "That's my boy. I knew I could depend on you to take care of the others. I'm proud of you."

Alex put the twins on the horse and turned to the others. "We'll walk for a while and then take turns riding with the little ones. That will let the horse get some rest as well."

Carmen didn't want to sound negative but they were overlooking one obstacle. "It's getting dark. How will we know where we're going?"

Alex took her hand. "Stars - and we can see the mountains, so that will guide us. My biggest concern is the scorpions and snakes. They're out at night and we won't be able to see them."

"It's going to be a full moon tonight, "Jonathan offered hopefully.

"I hope that will be enough," Alex said. "None of us has eaten since this morning and our water supply is low. Remember that spring where we saw the wild horses?" His gaze settled on Carmen.

She frowned. "Yes, but that's over five miles from here - and it's close to that cabin where they were holding us."

Alex nodded. "I know, but the way it looked on the map is the way another spot looked. It's on our way. We'll have to trust the horse to smell it."

"But that's a long way, isn't it?"

Alex nodded again. "That's why I'm going back to the camp and fill the canteen from the spigot where the camper was attached."

"I'm sorry Dad," Jonathan said. I should have tried to call someone earlier, but I thought it might be farther than you figured it was."

"There was no way you could have known what was going to happen. We're all here together and we're safe. Let's count our blessings and do the best with what we have."

Alex made two trips back to the camper. After the first one, he had everyone drink as much water as they could. Then he went back and filled the canteen again. He found an old coffee can and filled it for the horse.